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Book Reviews

‘The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.’ Alan Bennett

“Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.” ― Franz Kafka

Saturday, 20 April 2013

Coming of Age...Again - Carol Mizrahi - guest review

Irene, Barbara,
Rochelle and Sylvia have been friends since Kindergarten and have remained so
through all kinds of ups and downs.Now
in their early sixties when life should be fairly settled they find themselves
in turmoil.

Rochelle has spent
her life pleasing others and doing as she’s told but now finds that she doesn’t
really want to spend the rest of her life being an unthanked childminder for
her grandchildren and taken for granted by just about everyone she knows but
can she take control of her own life?

Uncurable romantic
Irene has been looking for the perfect man since her husband died and thinks
she has found him, until he moves in with her...is there ever such a thing as
the perfect man or does true love mean accepting some flaws too?

Barbara has had a
very comfortable lifestyle even if it meant looking the other way whilst her
husband played around but when she discovers his latest love interest she
becomes worried that this time it might be permanent...What can she do to stop
it?

Sylvia, pessimistic
and unhappy lives with her daughter and a fear that she is going to choke to
death if she lives alone.Each time
daughter Mary has a boyfriend Sylvia manages to frighten him off when she
invites him for dinner but what will she do if Mary decides to move out.Can she survive alone?

It’s not often you
read about women in their sixties and certainly not women like these four; they
are feisty and full of life, definitely not ready for assisted living and Meals
on Wheels!This novel shows that there
is life after 60 and that no matter what age you are life is always full of
surprises and you can still achieve what you want to achieve.Sylvia, Irene, Barbara and Rochelle are very
realistic characters, quirky and lively and their problems are everyday true to
life problems which readers will recognise and relate to and which are handled
with, sometimes dark, humour and insight.

Definitely a novel
I would recommend; I found it very enjoyable and different. Light hearted yet serious and, often,
genuinely very funny. It was a refreshing change to read about some women in
their sixties with a different set of familial difficulties and decisions to be
thought about and made than the usual 30 something sagas I usually read.The writing, characters and storyline engaged
me throughout, so much so that I was quite disappointed when I came to the end
and I’d certainly look out for other writing by this author.

Reviewed by Lisa Ward-Weir, guest reviewer

Thanks very much to Lisa for kindly reading and reviewing this book for The Little Reader Library

Thanks to the author for an ebook copy of this novel to read and review.